Why a strange name like Balle Balle! Amritsar To LA?

Initially, we only planned Bride And Prejudice. After completing the film, the distributors got excited and insisted on a Hindi version. They said if we don't do this film in Hindi, we would deny entertainment to the Indian masses.

So I said, chalo, phataphat!

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We got all the actors involved during the dubbing. Javedsaab (Akhtar) wrote the Hindi lyrics. The title Bride And Prejudice was a problem. We finished the Hindi version in less than a month's time. We decided to keep the name Balle Balle as a song in the film starts with that.

But just Balle Balle would not reflect the flavour of the film, so we came up with this name because it starts in Amritsar, and ends in Los Angeles.

How close is the film to the Jane Austen classic, Pride And Prejudice?

Very close. In the novel, the family lives just outside London and there are five daughters. They are a middle-class family trying to marry their daughters into good families. Most of the daughters are obedient, but one wants to marry for love, and not for money. That is what I am showing in the film.

Ash plays Austen's Lizzie Bennett as Lalita Bakshi, and I have used four daughters instead of five.

Darcy is a nobleman from a very posh family in England, and thinks he is upper class and better off. We made Darcy American because they feel superior to the rest of the world (laughs).

I have tried to show a new India through this film, the consumer-driven society et al. You get everything here and don't need to go abroad unlike earlier. In America, people have no idea about these things.

This film is a tribute to great directors like Yash Chopra, Manoj Kumar, Raj Kapoor and others. It is not a pure Hollywood, Bollywood or American film. It is just like me -- a combination of everything!

Why do your films revolve around marriage? Even Bend It Like Beckham had marriage at its core?

For women, culturally, the most important thing is marriage. From the day we are born, parents think of marriage. When I got married, I wore a suit my mom had made 25 years ago. It was made when I was five!

Outside India, the biggest concern for Indian families is that the children will marry an outsider. For NRIs, marriage brings all kind of people together. When I got married, people from Africa, America, India and Australia came over. That's why I set Bride And Prejudice in different countries.

In Bend It Like Beckham, the film was about a girl striving to be different. It was more about football than marriage.

Where has your film been shot?Amritsar, Goa, the Grand Canyon, London, Windsor and Los Angeles.

I just could not cut to a song in Switzerland like we do in Bollywood films. It would have been very confusing for Western audiences. There is a reason why Ash and Martin sing at the Grand Canyon. He takes her in a helicopter when she is in LA.Why are you not releasing the film in the US simultaneously?

Miramax wants to release the film on Christmas Day. It is a better time for their box office. They want to release it at the same time when Chicago was released. They will start with New York and LA. They also want to build on the anticipated success of this film in India and England.(smiles)

There has been an autobiographical element to your films. How far is this film related to your personal experience?

When I was a student, I took some time out and visited India. I had come before as a child, but this time I was 18. I was in Delhi and wanted to do some voluntary work.

I met up with some cousins. There were three daughters and a son in the family. The girls were older than me and very educated and confident. They were outspoken, and it opened my eyes. They were willing to express themselves but everyone was concerned about their marriage.

Their father was well to do and people met them for their father's money. The girls were not afraid to speak their mind. It went against the image and the notion that I had that time about Indian women. That experience always stayed with me.

A lot of Lalita Bakshi comes from that time. The society, the people I met.

How will you project Ash differently as compared to her Bollywood films?

You have to watch the film to see that. It is totally different from her previous films. She wears a T-shirt and jeans most of the time, a real girl from Amritsar with very few designer clothes. She is simple, and her clothes are those you would buy from the bazaars of Amritsar.

Some Indian girls, after seeing the film in England, told me she looks like a commoner and not like a Miss World. She has done a good job and worked hard on her characterisation. She does not walk like a model in the film. It's a very different Aishwarya.

Why did you choose her?

She reminded me of the character she's playing -- a woman taking on the industry in a man's world. She is very clever and has a good brain. She will not put up with second best. I like that attitude.

What next?

I am doing an $80 million film for Sony Pictures. It is a prequel to the old television show, I Dream Of Jeannie. It is a feminist action story, with lots of special effects. I am very excited about this because normally boys and men get to work on such films.Will you take Indian actors?

I may. I have to start next year. Let us see what happens.

The Indian factor is always there in your films, isn't it?

That is not true. In my second film, set in LA, there were no Indians. It had only one Indian, a sardar on a bus!(laughs).

What kind of marriage ceremonies do you like?

The most beautiful is the Sikh ceremony. Paul [Mayeda Berges] and I got married that way.

The most beautiful thing about an Indian wedding is the festivities go on and on -- the ladies sangeet, sangeet, mehndi. In an English wedding, you just go for a party, they exchange rings, dance, drink and that's it.

Bend It Like Beckham's actors like Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Parminder Nagra have arrived. What do you expect from the cast of this film?

Ash will have an international career after this film. Martin Henderson will get offers here. Peeya Rai Choudhry and Meghna Kothari will do well. Nadira Babbar is a revelation.